Urgent Prayer Request

We have an urgent prayer request for my nephew Micah Magnusson.  He is my oldest sister’s son.  Please pray.  Jackie and I were on our way up to Michigan for Micah’s graduation open house when we received the news.

This is what we know so far.  Micah was born with a ball of blood vessels in the back of his head.  It is something that less than 1% of the population has, and is a defect called AVM. 

Most of his family is here in Mid Michigan for his graduation open house which was scheduled for yesterday evening May 29th.  He had ridden his bicycle to school yesterday, and arrived at home around 12:00pm complaining of major head pain, and not feeling good.  

After a few minutes of lying on the couch he began to vomit, and lose some color.  Dale and Sher decided to take him to the local hospital in Lansing.  On the way to the hospital he started to say things that didn’t make sense and they decided to stop at the fire station on the way to the hospital.  They put him in the ambulance, started an IV, and started off to Sparrow Hospital.  

Before arriving at the emergency room the paramedics had to insert a breathing tube and he became unresponsive.  Once they arrived at Sparrow they took a CAT scan and discovered the large bleed mostly on the left rear side of Micah’s brain, but extending into the right side as well. 

God provided one of the best neuro Surgeons in Michigan, and they were able to stop the bleeding and clean both sides in what turned out to be around a 2.5 hour surgery.  It is a miracle that Micah made it to the hospital and through the operation.  

He is now in the Neuro ICU at Sparrow hospital.  He still has not regained consciousness, which they say is normal the first couple days after the operation.  The major concerns today are a fever that started last night, the possibility of another bleed, swelling on his brain stem, and the fact that he has not started breathing on his own.  

Some encouraging things that have taken place today are, He has moved his leg, responded to a pinch, one of his eyes has dilated, and he squeezed the doctor’s hand and also his parent’s hands.  They told us that we shouldn’t expect much to happen today as far as improvement, but hopefully by tomorrow night he will start to wake up and they will be able to assess the situation better.  

Micah was accepted to Moody Bible Institute this fall, and is a young man excited about God and serving Him.  When I arrived in the surgical lounge at Sparrow hospital yesterday afternoon there were around 100 people there to support Micah and his family.  Included were his football coach, the principle of his public high school, classmates, pastors, teachers, and people that Micah has touched with his happy go lucky attitude, and a deep Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  

Please continue to lift Micah and his family up before the Throne of our great and mighty Heavenly Father.  We have already seen Him work out some amazing things to keep Micah alive.  As soon as we hear anything new, I will keep you updated.  Thank you again for your prayers.

Love,
Joe and Jackie